Assaulted three people at British Legion club

A drunken man who assaulted two men and a woman at a British Legion club was ordered to pay them compensation totalling £1,250 last Thursday at Banbridge Magistrates Court.

He was Aiden Magennis (47), whose address was given to the court as Woodlands, Gilford, and he admitted two charges of common assault and a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on June 21 last year.

For each of the common assault offences he was sentenced to three months in prison and ordered to pay each victim £250 in compensation.

A four month prison sentence was imposed for the third offence and the compensation figure in this matter was set at £750.

The three jail terms are to run concurrently and were suspended for two years.

The court heard that police received a report from the Royal British Legion Club in Gilford about an assault by the defendant on a number of people.

They found him walking home but he was highly intoxicated and made little sense.

Magennis had become involved in an altercation with a man who was attempting to remove him from the premises.

This man was pushed to the ground and he fell on top of the woman. The defendant then hit another man.

The woman suffered substantial bruising and swelling while one man was punched to the face.

The most serious injuries were caused to the other man who was kicked and punched and suffered a perforated eardrum.

A barrister representing Magennis said he had little recollection of events.

He was extremely drunk and remembers knocking over some drinks.

She added that the defendant had now been barred from life from the club.

The lawyer pointed out that the pre-sentence report showed that alcohol had been a feature of his offending in the past and he had tried to reduce his alcohol intake since this occasion.

District Judge, Mr Paul Copeland, said Magennis had 22 previous convictions, many of them for assault and disorderly behaviour.

He added that it was clearly an event fuelled with a vast quantity of alcohol and in a drunken stupor the defendant lashed out at people who were trying to reason with him.

“You caused hurt and damage to all three,” the judge told Magennis. “You need to know a repetition of this behaviour will result in you going to prison.”